By Prof. Mehmood Hasmi (Birmingham)
Prof.
Mehmood Hashmi
was born in Ddyal (Mirpur). He has been acclaimed as a great teacher of merit
and a scholastic profundity. He worked in different colleges of J&K State and
left for Pakistan in 1947. He was associated with broadcasting units at
different places in Pakistan.
"Kashmir
Udas Hai" is his
famous book with some autobiographical elements in it. In addition to it, he has
written many short stories and essays regarding different aspects of Urdu
literature. He continues to be remembered for his useful contributions to Urdu
literature on whose horizon he has left his own imprint.
--The Editor
I liked
"Manto Katha" really much as one of the books of Dr. Brij Premi. This
book will continue to retain its importance and relevance and Premi has really
worked hard at it . The letters of Safia Manto are very interesting.
In "Kashmir
Key Maz-ameen",
the write-up on Pt. Govind Kaul left a profound impact on me.
Who knows how many persons of Govind Kaul’s calibre are there from
Kashmir and
whom we had no occasion to know in view of certain circumstances or
non-availability of some reputed persons who could excavate some thing more of
this treasure.
In Brij
Premi's book "Jalve-e-Sadrang" letters of Sir Aurel Stein to Ram
Chand Bali, such impressions were the result. In Kashmir Key Mazameen,
the sketch Hamidi Kashmir has been written so artistically and personality
of Hamidi Kashmiri comes alive to the reader. After going through this book, the
readers will, I am sure, feel prompted to read the write-up again and those who
know little about this luminary will be drawn towards knowing more about him. In
this write-up, one feels that justice has been done to the standards of writing
sketches and the impact is totally positive.
One can’t
know why this write-up has been captioned as "Friend, Philosopher and Guide”.
I'd say that it could be better captioned as "Dost, Phalsaphi and
Rehmuna meaning friend, philosopher and guide.
The write-up
on Prem Nath Pardesi pleased and impressed me. Those good old days brought back
those memories. I met Pardesi in 1945 and we kept company upto 20th of Nov 1947,
a period of real intimacy.
In March,
1945 I had been to
Srinagar,
Pardesi's stories appeared in newspapers of the state and Maulana Tajwar Najeeb
Abadi’s (Lahore) magazine Shahkar’. While at Sgr, Pardesi had
already left an impact on me by his attachment to story writing and the taste
for reading. He too wrote stories and critical essays, which appeared in
Adbi Duniya
Lahore, Saqi,
Delhi, Kitab
(Lahore).
Perhaps during those days, one write-up had appeared in Shahkaar and its title
was "Jamaliyati hes" of Mehdi Afadi.
In
Kashmir Key Mazameen, the write-up on Prem Nath Dhar was nice. Dhar came
to
London
in 1978 to 1989 and also came to
Birmingham
with Mahinder Nath Kaul, BBC TV producer. He had left for me (two)
collections of his stories. It is my ill luck that those collections did not
reach me and was thus deprived of going through them. The impact of his some
stories continues to be on my mind. This I say quite frankly and freely that Dr.
Brij Premi has quite sufficiently proved his artistic worth. He has not only
done justice to Prem Nath Dhar but also proved his merits as a critic. His
write-up on Prem Nath Dhar and 'A story writer-Prem Nath Dhar- are a matter of
pride.
In
Jalva-e-Sadrang, the essay "Research and Criticism in Urdu in
Jammu and Kashmir,
is a knowledgeable piece of writing. The title gives an impression that the
writer wanted to comment only on those critics who worked within the
geographical boundaries of state.”
*(Translated
from Urdu by
Sh.
MN Kak)
